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LETTER OF GOVERNOR WARMOTH, 

m 
OF LOUISIANA, 

TO SENATOR KELLOGG, '^'^^^^i^^"''>^ 

OM THE SUBJECT OF THE LATE ELECTION LV THAT 8TATE. 



Statb of Louisiana, Executive D£PaPwTment, i 
Now Orleans, December 20, 1868. ) 

flou. William p. KrLLOGG, 

United States Senate, Wasliingtou, T>. C. : 

My Dear Sir — In reply to your letter of recent date, I have to 
Bay, tliat the personal relations between myself and General 
Rousseau have been pleasan!: and courteous. He consulted with mo 
freely, and sought my ad%icc as to the best means of preserving 
the peace during the late troubles. We difiered widely as to many 
of the means emj)loyed for that purpose. In my first interview ^vith 
him, I directed his attention to the fact that Congress had by the 
act of March 2, 1867, stripped the State Government of the power 
to organize militia, its reserve force in the event of forcible resistance 
to its authorit}'. I informed him of the existence of secret armed 
societies; the object of which was to overtui-n the State Government 
and disfranchise the colored people, and that I should rely upon him 
as the representative of the forces of the United States, whoso laws 
he was here to maintain, and through which the government I ad- 
ministered was established, to repress violence and insure peace and 
tranquillity. He replied that he would, as far as it lay in his power, 
use every effort to accomplish the objects indicated. I did not find 
General Buchanan, General Rotisseau's subordinate, and in the 
immediate command of the troops in this State, apparently as cordial 
or so much disposed to act in harmony with the civil authorities. 

At an interview between General Rousseau, General Buchanan, 
General Hatch and myself, I became satisfied that the State had no,, 
friend in General Buchanan, and that but little roUauco was to bo 



placed in his active co-operation. He was severe in his criticisms, 
and seemed to sympathize with the hostility entertained by the 
enemies of the Government, to the MetropoUtan Police department, 
and suggesteu as a necessity that the old rebel force be restored. 
Our interview terminated without any satisfactory understanding. 
Subsequently General Kousseau ordered all the trooj)S into the city, 
with the exception of General Mower's regiment, the 39th Infantiy. 
I urged him to bring this regiment fi'om Ship Island and station it 
also in the city and adjoining parishes. I told him that the tur- 
bulent elements boasted that the troops about the city (all white) 
would not fire upon them, and that the moral effect of a black regi- 
ment in the city, would be worth a brigade of white troops. To this 
request General Eousseau at first assented, but aftei-wards, to my sur* 
prise, replied that the effect of such a movement would be to incense 
the people all the more, and that a collision could not be avoided, and 
that when once begun the colored troops could not be rehed on, and 
even if they could, the whole force would not be sufficient to with- 
stand the onslaught of the armed citizens. To these views I entirely 
dissented. I informed General Rousseau on the eighteenth day of 
October, that I had some days previously written a private letter to the 
Secretary of War, on the subject of the impending troubles, and 
predicting that unless more troops were sent to the State there could 
be no hope of a peaceable election, but upon the contrary, I feared 
bloodshed. To prevent which I had requested that two (2) addi- 
tional regiments be sent to the State. General Rousseau said he 
was glad I had done so, and that he would telegraph immediately 
to the Secretary himself, and afterwards showed me the Secretary's 
reply, which was to the effect that General Gillem, of Mississippi, 
had been instructed to forward all of his available troops at once, 
and that it was the best that the Government could do. 

After four days of intense excitement, resulting from the troubles 
in Jefferson parish, where armed bands of men were Shooting 
negroes or driving them to the swamps, having driven the police 
force away from Gretna, in the face of a company of United States 
Infantry, sent to aid them in maintaining order; when the people 
of St. Bernard parish were in a state of ci\il warj and when the 
streets of New Orleans were filled with armed bands of white men, 
also killing negroes and bidding defiance to the police and laws of 
the State, I determined to throw the responsibility of preserving 
order upon the representative of the General Government, which 
had stripped me, by the act of March 2, of the power to organize a 



force for that purpose. On the twenty-sixth October, I uJdrossed 
the following letter to General Rousseau : 

Major General L. H. KoussE^vr, 

Commaiuling Department of LoniBiana: 

Oeneral — The evidence is conclusive that the civil authorities in tho 
parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard are unable to pre- 
serve order and protect the Kves and property of the people. 

The act of Congress prohibiting the organization of mUitia in this 
State, strips mo of all power to sustain them in the discharge of 
their duties, and I am compelled to appeal to you to take charge of 
the peace of these parishes and use your forces to that end. 

If you respond favorably to my request, I will at once order tho 
sheriffs and police forces to report to you for orders. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) H. C. WAR:M0TH, 

Governor of Louisiana. 

In doing this, I had no purpose of avoiding responsibility, but I 
was determined that no question of authority should be raised by 
the military cemmandant. General Rousseau telegraphed my letter 
to the Secretary of "War, endorsing what I stated, and received tho 
following reply: 

War Department, ) 

Washikgton, October 26, 1868. j 

Brevet Major General L. H. Rousseau, 

Commanding Department of Louisiana, New Orleans: 

Your dispatcli of the 26th, forwarding a message from the Gov- 
ernor of Louisiana and asking instructions, has been received. You 
are authorized and expected to take such action as may be necessary 
to preserve the peace and good order, and to protect the lives and 
property of citizens. 

(Signed) J. M. SCHOFIELD. 

Secretary of War. 

It was then the duty of General Rousseau to have issued his pro- 
clamation, enjoining such regulations as might have been necessary 
to have preserved the peace and enforced it with his troops. This 
was my advice to him, but he believed he could accomplish more by 
diplomacy than by force, and did not issue any proclamation imtil the 
night of the twenty-eighth October : In the meantime armed white men 



4 

patrolled the streets night and day, sacking Republican club rooms, 
the residences of Union citizens, churches and school houses. Dur- 
ing the week preceding the election over sixteen persons were killed 
in New Orleans. On the night of the twenty-eighth of October 
General Rousseau issued the following: 

Heax)quarters Department of Louisiana., 'i 

(States of Louisiana and ^ Arkansas) >• 

New Orleans, La., October 28, 1868. ; 

To the People of New Orleans : 

Fellow-Citizens — I have received instructions from the authori- 
ties at "Washington to take such action as may be necessary to pre- 
serve peace and good order and to protect the Kvos and jjroperty of 
citizens. As the city is quiet to-day, I think it a proper time to 
make the above announcement, and to call upon all law-abiding 
citizens to aid me hereafter in carrying out these instructions, and 
to that end they are earnestly requested to refrain from assembling 
in large bodies on the streets, to avoid exciting conversation and 
other causes of irritation and excitement, and to pursue their ordi- 
nary vocations as usual. The police force of the city has been ra- 
organized and inefficient members have been droj^pod from the rolls 
and others appointed in their places; and General J. B. Steedman is 
appointed Chief of Police, pj^o tempore, by the Board of Polioo 
Commissioners. General Steedman and his police force will be sup- 
ported by the militai-y, and assurance is given alike to the peaceful 
and the lawless that everything at my command and to tlie utmost 
of my ability will be used in the endeavor to obey these instructions. 

For the i^resent, political processions and patrolling the streets by 
armed men are prohibited. 

(Signed; LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU, 

Brevet Major General U. S. A., Commanding Department. 

In the face of this order. Democratic clubs did have processions, 
and armed bands continued their violence up to the day of election. 
The week preceding the election was one of intense excitement — 
the whole city was filled with alarm. My parlor was contantly filled 
with men who brought reports of outrages upon their persous and 
property. A constant Stream of men ran from the g\m stores of 
the city with arms and ammunition, and every evidence of general 
tumult and rioting was apparent. During this time I was in daily 
communication with the commanding General, who expressed 



groat concern, and lamented tlio meagre foroo at his disposal. It was 
so small that General Buchanan stated, in General Ronsseau's pres- 
ence, that he (General R.) would be as much justified in retiring with 
his troops as he would before an enemy of superior force. Such was 
the condition of affairs in the adjoining parishes of St. Bernard, Or- 
leans and Jefferson for the six days preceding the election; while 
for weeks previous a state of lawlessness existed in more than half 
the parishes of this State, affecting the security of every citizen. 

You ask me the cause of all this trouble. The answer is to bo 
found in the deep-seated animosity of the rebel element of this State, 
unwhipt of justice and turned loose by Andrew Johnson upon the 
country without a rebuke, and allowed to resist by force the govern- 
ment established through Congressional law by the people of this 
State ; in the contumacy of the old ruling aristocracy who believe 
they were bom to govern, without question, not only their slaves, 
but the masses of the white people; in the lack of sufficient physical 
force to punish rioters and protect the honest citizen in his hfe and 
property, and in the wanton neglect of duty by the President in not 
furnishing, upon the appUcation of the Legishiture, made on the 
fii-st of August, even if he had been compelled to caU out the niiHtia 
of the several States, with sufficient force to preserve the peace. 
You ask me if I advised Republicans not to go to the polls and vote ? 
To this I reply that I had no authority whatever to act for the party; 
I was constantly engaged in my official duties, and left to tho 
respective executive committees tho conduct of tho campaio-n. I 
was, however, consulted by the chaii'man of the Repubhcan State 
Committee, who showed me a circular imploring the RepubHcans to 
stand firm and go to the polls on the day of the election and vote. 
This cii'cular I approved, acted upon the advice contained in it, and 
voted for Grant and Colfax, although I felt assured that the election 
would be throughout the State a farce or tragedy. 

Such, indeed, was the fact, as the following figures are uncontro- 
vertible evidence. The election for tho ratification of the Consti- 
tution took place not quite six months prior to the Presidential elec- 
tion. As you know there were forty-eight parishes in tho State, 
seven of which. Do Soto, Lafayette, St. Landry, Vermillion, Frank- 
lin, Jackson and Washington, gave four thousand seven hundred 
and four (4704) votes for the Constitution, biit did not cast a single 
vote for General Grant. Eight other parishes, to wit — Bicuvillo, 
Bossier, Claiborne, Caddo, Morehouse, Union, St. Beniard and 
Sabine, gavo five thousand five hundred and twenty (5520) votes 



for the Constitution, but east only ten votes for General Grant 
Twenty-one parishes, casting for the ratification of the new Consti- 
tution twenty-six thousand eight hundred and fourteen (2G,814) 
gave General Grant only live hundred and one (501) votes, and the 
whole State polling for the Constitution in April, sixty-one thousand 
one hundred and lifty-two (Cl,152) votes, or a majority of seventeen 
thousand four hundred and thirteen (17,413) gave General Grant in 
November only thirt3'-four thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine 
(34,859) votes. 

It is impossible for me to give in the limits of a letter all of the 
facts in relation to the late election in this State. A committee 
should be appointed by Congress to investigate the whole affair, 
upon whose rcpoi"t should depend the count of this State in the 
Electoral College and the admission of the Eepresentatives elect to 
seats in Congress. 

In conclusion, I assert that the late election did not elicit the 
honest will of the people, and that the result V\^as attained by the 
most shameless resort to murder, assassination, tumult and intimi- 
dation, not to speak of proscription, that was ever known in this 
country, and that to allow it to go as the expressed will of the peo- 
ple would be an outrage upon repubHcan institutions and ruinous 
to good government here for years to come. 
Yery Respectfully, 

H. C. WAEMOTH, 

Governor of Louisiana. 






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